Chris Garrett is the director of online edcuation for the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at UCSF. She works closely with CTSI's Clinical and Translational Science Training (CTST) program.
I came to UCSF in March 2008 as Director of Educational Technology for the School of Nursing. I came from the University of Kansas Medical Center, and before that was at Graceland University. At Graceland, I designed and implemented three entire degree programs – Master of Science in Nursing, Master of Science in Education, and Doctor in Theology. I joined the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) team part-time (shared with SON) in the spring of 2011 and became full time in August, 2011.
What do you do at UCSF and how is it connected to the UCSF mission?
As Director of Online Education for CTSI I help to convert courses that have been offered for many years in the traditional classroom to fully online or blended classroom and online. Our current online curriculum includes Designing Clinical Research and Responsible Conduct of Research. We have plans to add several additional courses in 2013 including Scientific Writing and Clinical Trials. What better way to advance health worldwide from the educational perspective than to provide education globally? Online education offers an efficient, effective, and affordable way to offer education – to researchers, clinicians, teachers, communities, individuals, patients, and their families. Wherever people have an Internet connection or a mobile device, we have the opportunity and ability to reach them.
What are the most challenging and rewarding parts of your job?
The most challenging is overcoming inertia. We do what we already do brilliantly – so why change? We also still don’t understand a lot about online education so we have doubts, fear, and even perceived threats. We don’t invest nearly enough resources to online education. We have the talent and expertise, but we haven’t figured out how to leverage it to position ourselves as a leader in online education for the health sciences. The most rewarding is completing online courses and having both faculty and learners be surprised and delighted at how great it was – and in particular how effective in achievement of learning objectives and outcomes.
What do you like most about working with online education?
Online education provides an opportunity for people to learn who cannot access on-ground education – or who prefer the options available via online learning, such as any time/anywhere convenience, the opportunity for those with language challenges to access content in different ways, etc. I also love the instructional design process: collaborating with subject matter experts (SMEs) – drawing on the best of our strengths, talents, and gifts in a synergistic way; creating learning environments that support the adult learning process in elegant ways; and making the technology work so well that it is barely noticeable
I also love supporting courses in progress – my “Course Concierge” role. Time after time, we would have a beautifully designed course, talented faculty, and enthusiastic students, but the online education courses and curriculum failed to reach its potential. What became apparent to me is that you can’t just put all the pieces together and expect everyone to know how to operate in this new format. At some point, the idea of a cruise director or “course concierge” occurred to me. I just sort of quietly assumed this role for our summer 2011 DCR course and it worked! I was neither teacher nor learner – I was something else altogether. I was there throughout the course to guide, coach, mentor, support, and help both faculty and students to navigate the online education environment successfully. This took a huge burden off the faculty so they could focus on what they do best – TEACH. It also provided a safety net for students. I could monitor their activity and reach out if I saw people falling behind or otherwise struggling with the learning process or technology. This is a role I now believe to be essential; especially for new courses and/or for faculty new to online education. I would like to see a program designed to train people how to assume this important role.
What are some things that people may not know about online education?
It is not all that different from on-ground education – you can do almost everything online you can do in the traditional classroom. Online education has been “disruptive” in many ways – one of which is that it has brought adult education methods into the forefront – online education has actually informed how classroom education can be more effective – more learner and learning centered – this is something about which I am quite passionate. Traditionally, education has been teacher centered. For centuries, a major school of educational theory held that knowledge is transferred from teacher to learner through presentation – lectures, demonstrations supported by print content. Unfortunately, we know from abundant research and evidence that this type of education has limited long-lasting results – it works for short term memory and basic understanding, but not so much for deep learning. A different model asks teachers to help students to construct their own knowledge. This shifts the process from teacher-centered to learner-centered. This has been a good transitional shift in theory and practice. But an even more important shift has been to learning-centered education – a model that minimizes the teacher/student dichotomy and instead creates communities of learners that include people with different roles (course director, instructor, TA, student). All both teach and learn – everyone contributes to the creation or enhancement of knowledge, skills, and abilities – and everyone learns -- including the “experts”. This was highly evident in recent CTSI online courses, and this type of learning is transformational—not just transactional. Of course there are many examples of good “Sage on the Stage” education – we have magnificent lecturers who inspire and pique learners’ interest. But the question is when does something happen in the learner’s brain – when they are receiving content or when they apply the content? Are our brains fully engaged when the teacher is telling or more so when the teacher is asking. One of my mottos is, “Don’t tell when you can ask. Don’t ask if you already know the answer.” This is not new – Socrates is certainly identified as the type of educator who used questioning as his major teaching method.
If you chose another career path outside UCSF what would it be?
I’d be a teacher – probably middle school level – a critical time for developing skills, attitudes, character. I actually was a middle school teacher right out of college in the early 1970s – I taught girls’ Physical Education at Sandberg Junior High School in Elmhurst, Illinois.
What's something that members of the UCSF community would be surprised to know about you?
I’ve lived in 25 different places in 30 years. The moves have been mostly career related, and this experience has provided me with a very broad perspective. I’m now determined to stay put in the Bay Area. I also have a sharp and clever sense of humor (seems to come out on Facebook more than in person, I’m a political junkie (MSNBC is my default channel), and since I came here I have lost a huge amount of weight (and now I love things like ziplining).
What are your favorite things to do with your free time?
I love to explore Northern California, travel, connect with family and friends via social networking, and to walk in and around Pacifica (where I live) and enjoy my new size and health.
CTSI Spotlight is part of an ongoing series that offers an opportunity for faculty and staff to learn more about the wide range of people who make CTSI's work possible. See all featured faculty and staff.